Fuel cells capable of performing power generation at a high efficiency even with a small size are being progressively developed as a key component of a power generation system for a distributed energy supply source. A supply system of hydrogen gas, which is a fuel necessary for power generation, is not sufficiently provided as a general infrastructure. Therefore, a hydrogen generation apparatus for generating hydrogen-containing gas using a raw material supplied from an existing fossil fuel infrastructure for, for example, city gas, propane gas or the like is installed together with the fuel cell power generation system.
City gas, propane gas or the like which is supplied from an existing infrastructure usually contains an odorizer component represented by a sulfur compound such as CH3SCH3, (CH3)3CSH or the like generally at a volume concentration of about several ppm's. Such an odorizer component is added in order to detect a gas leak from a pipe or the like of the infrastructure line. However, a sulfur compound contained as such an odorizer component poisons a catalyst used in the hydrogen generation apparatus. Accordingly, in order to suppress the poisoning influence of sulfur on the catalyst, the sulfur compound needs to be removed from the raw material such as city gas, propane gas or the like before the raw material is supplied to the hydrogen generation apparatus.
Patent Document No. 1 proposes, in order to remove a sulfur compound from a raw material, adsorbing and thus removing the sulfur compound in the raw material by an adsorptive removal section using an zeolite-based adsorptive removal agent.
With the adsorptive removal section using an zeolite-based adsorptive removal agent, the adsorbing capacity on a sulfur compound is small. In order to sufficiently suppress the poisoning influence of sulfur on the catalyst used in the hydrogen generation apparatus, the adsorptive removal section needs to be exchanged every certain time period. For example, Patent Document No. 2 filed by the present Applicant describes adopting an adsorptive removal section detachable from a power generation system using a fuel cell (fuel cell power generation system) and proposes determining the time to exchange the adsorptive removal section based on an accumulated amount of the raw material gas which has passed the section. Patent Document No. 3 proposes a method of networking a plurality of fuel cell power generation systems installed at houses and facilities to determine the time to exchange the adsorptive removal section.